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These are the five worst-affected countries across the world including the state of the virus in those countries, what they have done to combat COVID-19 and the prognosis for each country.

Italy

Italy as a country has suffered the largest number of deaths due to coronavirus, with statistics from Johns Hopkins University putting the number of deaths at 8,215 on March 27.

The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Italy on January 31, when two Chinese tourists in Rome tested positive for the virus and it went on to spread increasingly quickly.

Italy is one of the hardest-hit countries when it comes to coronavirus (Picture: Christian Minelli/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The first deaths were recorded in February and by the start of March, COVID-19 had spread to all regions of Italy.

The Italian government has worked to limit the spread of coronavirus, suspending flights to and from China at the end of January and declaring a state of emergency.

In February, the government put 11 municipalities in the north of the country in lockdown, which was later spread even more.

The country went on to shut down most businesses and ban public gatherings nationwide on March 12 as it tried to halt the spread of the virus but on March 19 its death toll officially overtook China’s.

Italy’s ageing population has been blamed for dramatic effect of the virus, while some also blamed it on a failure to follow emergency guidance.

Positive tests had declined recently but have started to rise again, leading to concerns that the south of the country could be the next hotspot for the virus.

Spain

Spain appears to be following in the footsteps of Italy when it comes to the effect of coronavirus.

Two days later, on Friday, March 27, Spain’s death toll rose by 769 in the country’s largest single-day surge.

Like many other countries, Spain was put into a lockdown in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19.

That initial lockdown, which bans people from leaving home except to buy essential supplies and medicine, or to go to work, was extended until April 11 on Thursday.

China

Coronavirus originated in China yet the number of people killed by the disease is now fewer in China than in Italy or Spain. There are also fewer recorded cases in China than in the United States.

On December 31, 2019, China alerted the WHO to several cases of an unusual pneumonia in Wuhan.

In January the virus was identified as a new virus and the first death was recorded in China on January 11.

Coronavirus first emerged in China but now other countries have overtaken it in terms of death toll. (Picture: STR/AFP via Getty Images)

The infection rate and death toll continued to rise and on January 23, Wuhan was placed under effective quarantine, with air and rail travel in the area suspended, while quarantines were also put in place in other cities and Chinese New Year events in Beijing were cancelled.

As the virus started to spread across the world, the death toll continued to rise in China.

In late February, the numbers of infections appeared to plateau as cases started to spike in other countries.

On March 27, the number of deaths in China stood at 3,174 but amid concerns that there could be another spike as foreign nationals return to the country, the government temporarily suspended entry into China by foreign nationals holding visas or residence permits as of March 28.